


A call

by Red_Reaper



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Eventual Romance, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:01:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24108664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Reaper/pseuds/Red_Reaper
Summary: William's new cell phone rarely sounded apart from Grell insistently calling and texting, trying to finally make any contact with "his true love".But that day he received a different call that made him realize so many things.
Relationships: William T. Spears/Grell Sutcliff
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Pardon my bad English, practicing as much as possible. If you spot any mistake please let me know in a nice comment. No rudeness needed.

William T Spears certainly never understood the reasons why higher management considered that it would be helpful if each reaper had its own cell phone for any emergency and information that needed to be shared.

Not that he was against any type of progress, but honestly, he wasn't that sure about having an entire contact list with each reaper on the dispatch.

Including that annoying _thing_ and that kid of Ronald Knox.

Normally, no one would text him or call him unless it was important. His new cell phone was the picture of something strictly professional, with a boring picture of the reapers's headquarters and a plain black and white settings, despite being the most recent model and so many different options to costumize.

It rarely sounded even if he hated the fact that he couldn't turn it off during the nights for any emergency.

_Reapers didn't have any emergencies. That sounded so stupid..._

But still, sometimes happened. Some reaper that couldn't collect a soul by himself or perhaps a potential dangerous encounter with a demon, or just paperwork missing on General Affairs that needed to be re filled or looked for.

He had a quiet existence without the constant buzzing or ringing of that thing. Even with being a personnel manager.

_Except for just one thing._

Ronald Knox wasn't that stupid to try his luck, but Grell Sutcliff never cared that much about any warning, even if he threatened him with overtime for so many times.

Still, his phone buzzed once or twice with just a _“Good morning, darling ~ ♥"_ or just a simply “ _Good night, Will ~ ♥. Sweet dreams!"_

Honestly...

But that day was different though. He was insanely busy, even after returning home, with a heavy stack of paperwork that needed his signature.

His cell phone ringed madly and once noticing the source of the disturbance, certain annoying _redhead_ , William shook his head without even look at the screen and sighed, going back to his job and to his warm cup of tea in the quiet comfort of his personal study.

Doozing off in the chair after the first twenty long pages.

_Honestly, nobody understood how tiring being a manager could be._

Even that absurd excuse of a reaper called Grell Sutcliff.

He frowned in his sleep for the fifth time that night. That damn thing didn't stop ringing and buzzing in his ears, waking him up. William grunted, trying to unclench his rigid jaw and rubbing his face with both hands, murmuring obsenities that he only allowed himself to say in the comfort of his apartment.

_It didn't matter how, but he would find a way to kick that annoying redhead out of the fucking realm!_

“What, for heaven's sake, could you want at this hour, Grell Sutcliff?" He tried his best to control himself, angrily tapping the screen to answer the _thirty call oft the day_ , listening to the deep and somewhat frightened sigh at the other end of the line.

“Erm... hello there, _boss_. Sorry if I woke you up but..."

His anger quickly deflated and William T Spears blinked, staring at the screen in confusion.

No, he wasn't dreaming. That was Sutcliff's number, but something that sounded like Ronald Knox, answered him instead.

“Listen, Knox, I don't care what Sutcliff asked you to do or the reason he asked you to call me but..."

“ _It's really important, Spears_ " Ronald interrupted him with a serious tone. “Sutcliff and I need your assistance here or.... I need your help. _Please_ ".

He had to admit that he never listened such tone in the blonde's voice and William started to think in the worst scenarios involving that demented redhead.

“Knox, could you..." He started but got interrupted again by Ronald telling him the number of the alley they were in.

“London's commercial district number 5".

“Wait, what are you and Sutcliff doing by the dock at this hour of the night?" Will asked by staring at his wrist watch. He refused to use that pathetic excuse of phone clock for anything.

“I will explain you later, hurry up!"

He heard the click in the other end and frowned.

_That disgusting thing..._

_Honestly._

Materializing his scythe with one hand and quickly waving the other, he glanced into his book of souls.

_Nothing suspicious..._

_Yet._

Sighing and jumping from roof to roof, William tried to not to think in the worst, focusing himself in all the paperwork he still had to fill at home, landing quietly in a dark alley closer to the dock in question.

“Listen, Knox, I don't care if..."

But he stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the pale and worried face of Ronald Knox, holding the unconscious body of Grell Sutcliff in between his arms, trying uselessly to stop one of the numerous wounds from bleeding profussely.

“Don't just stay there! Do something!"

Soon he found himself, holding the redhead's body in his arms, jumping as carefully as possible, trying to avoid any further damage and listening to the silence he wasn't accostumed to coming from the young reaper jumping next to him.

His facial expression told him that he wasn't ready to talk about it until his beloved mentor was properly healed and he wasn't that stupid to even try to stress the situation further.

“I will take care of Sutcliff's injuries at home. For all I know, this idiot never cared to have proper medical equiptment in his apartment".

But Ronald Knox didn't reply and William took it as a silent permission to decide what it was the best for the welliness of his colleague.

Finally reaching home, William handed the wounded body of Sutcliff to the younger reaper, making a quick visual scan of the injuries and trying to think fast about what to do next.

“We can't just lie him on bed or any surface without assessing the damage." He decided, pushing his glasses up with the tip of his scythe. “For the look of his right arm and how it hangs loose at his side, I'm guessing that it's broken or there's a dislocated shoulder".

“I already know all that. He called me after you ignored his fourth call for backup, but it was already too late for me to do much".

William stared at the angered features of his young colleague and decided to simply stretch his arms out, silently commanding him to place the injured body of his mentor, back into his arms.

“Let me handle this from now on. Make us some tea and get some rest. Once I'm done, get ready to explain what happened".

Ronald Knox simply nodded, placing Grell into his manager's arms and smiling softly for a moment.

“Sutcliff's dream finally will come true. Sleep in our supervisor's bed".

If William heard him, walking upstairs to the bathroom, he didn't say a word, closing the door behind him and gently placing the injuried reaper against one of the walls in a sitting position, wincing at the sudden _crack_ in what he supposed, one of his lower ribs.

Part of his clothes were just ribbons and the older reaper wondered if Grell knew how to sew. His beloved red coat had a long cut on the back of it. Something that seemed to be made by any sort of sharp blade.

Suddenly the stupid face of that vermin surfaced in his thoughts and he shook his head vehemently.

_Sebastian Michaelis._

“Why you refuse to listen to common sense and never stop to chase that stupid demon?" He asked rethorically, trying to slowly remove the red coat without cause any further damage and wincing again at the numerous cuts on the pale redhead's chest.

It was somewhat disturbing to place his own hands into all that blood, but his gloves kept slipping and getting on his way, so he held the body of the reaper with one hand to prevent him to fall to the sides by it's own weight and started to remove his glove, finger by finger with his teeth, getting a taste of the slightly acid and metallic blood of Grell Sutcliff.

He did the same with the other hand and then proceeded to tore the rest of the clothes appart, taking his shoes off and unbucking the belt of his pants, being extra careful with the sticky parts of the broken skin, all matted to the clothes with fresh and dried blood.

Most of the cuts were deep and it didn't make any sense to him. They were reapers, they could heal in matter of seconds and that obviously wasn't happening with Sutcliff, so he quickly discarded the theory of the Earl and his butler, replacing it quickly with something even more disturbing.

But he had no time for details, he had to work faster if that was the case. Bending next to the injuried reaper, he cautiously placed both of his arms around his body, to avoid any further damage by bending his body into his arms and praying that the redhead at least had his legs's bones intact.

Dragging him softly to the bathtub, he tried not to stare much into the redhead's body, keeping everything as professional as it should be.

“If only you were usually this quiet". He murmured, feeling somehow disturbed by the abnormal silence of the reaper into his arms. Grell didn't give any signs of waking up soon and that definitely wasn't a good sign. Upon finally reaching the bathtub, William carefully inclined himself to carry Grell into his arms, bridal style, listening to the few cracks of his body while placing him inside the tub. “Alright" he murmured, cleaning the sweat of his forehead with one of the sleeves before exiting the bathroom quickly and finding a frustrated Ronald Knox holding a medical kit in front of him.

“I can't just sit and do nothing". The younger reaper murmured without even look at him and the older reaper just nodded, stepping aside and letting the blonde enter and asset the situation.

He heard a yelp and pushed his glasses up, walking back to the bathroom and looking at the frightened look of the other reaper under his charge.

It took them two hours and five washcloths to finally clean and dress all the possible injuries, making an urgent call to the forensic team to evaluate the broken bones and the medication that consisted in antibiotics, blood bags and everything that could prevent any infection.

Even if that meant sewing the skin like any human would in a situation like that.

“Two ribs broken and one dislocated shoulder". The member of the forensic team said, tapping a wooden board with a pen, while taking note of the situation. “There's just one reason for these injuries to not be healing by themselves and that is if they are made by..."

“A death scythe" Both, Ronald and William said at the same time and the boy's face fell down.

“Sutcliff senpai called me because he noticed a suspcious activity on the deck while making his rounds. Someone or something seemed to be carrying a strange machine inside the ferry that will sail tomorrow morning and he said that also saw numerous coffins being stored out in the basement of the ship in huge containers. Before he could investigate further, something attacked him from behind or so he said. Something powerful, heh, even more than him, he hated to admit and soon he tried to contact you but you never replied so..."

William felt a strange knot, like a punch on his stomach, while listening to the reaper's words, turning to stare at the injuried redhead in bed.

“He still had his fingers pressed against the screen with your number. I'm glad that he decided to stop being stubborn and contacted me too".

Scythe wounds weren't normal and he had to find out the reason.

In the end, he owed Grell that one.

_Honestly._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying not to make it too long and going straight to the point. It's a weird dream that I had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Practicing my English. I do hope that you guys like it.

_“Will... answer your damn phone! Damnit, damnit!"_

_“Will..."_

A loud tud and a burning pain in his forehead woke the supervisor up, noticing that he had fallen asleep on a chair a few meters away from the sleeping redhead on his bed and that he slapped himself by accident with the stack of paperwork he still had to complete.

Fixing his glasses, William T. Spears blinked rapidly to adjust his vision to the darkness surrounding him, surprised that all the noise he was making, didn't wake that blonde kid up that now was snoring soundly in another chair, next to Grell Sutcliff.

He vaggedly remembered what happened before falling asleep, but the constant flashes of images about blood pouring from the redhead's body kept surfacing his thoughts, no matter how much he tried to focus in something else.

Looking down he even noticed that instead of writing his signature, he scribbled some unintelligible words that ended with _“Sutcliff"_.

Shaking his head the reaper got up, placing the stack of paper on the chair he sat on. He wouldn't be able to finish his paperwork without solve the big mystery behind these injuries the redhead had.

Taking his shoes off to avoid making any more noise, William then approached slowly to the redhead in bed and cautiously lifted one of his hands to place it over Grell Sutcliff's throat, trying to find any indicator that the reaper was still alive.

They weren't used to breathe while sleeping, but perhaps he could find any sign. Grell couldn't be dead.

He refused to believe in such thing. If anything, Grell was a strong reaper and had a great amount of stamina. Almost as much as his stubbornness.

The surpervisor surprisingly marvelled for a moment, on the feeling of the redhead's soft skin with his fingers. William wasn't one to humor the redhead antics about feminine products, but at that moment he had to admit that it was indeed really smooth without all these blood covering him.

Shaking his head a couple of times to dismiss such thoughts, William then moved his hand to the redhead's forehead as if trying to feel his temperature with his hand, still surprised of not even hear one little noise from the normally noisy reaper.

He indeed was curious to know if it wasn't already too late and if his natural regeneration ability was finally working again.

For that he was glad of being a reaper and not needing precisely to turn on any light to see better.

Cautiously opening one of his white shirts that now covered the redhead's body, the supervisor stared at his and Knox's work with a frown, noticing a few dark spots already and thinking that soon these bandages would need to be replaced.

He then proceeded to hold one of the redhead's hands in his, staring intently and sighing strangely relieved to see that some of the cuts were healing by themselves without leave much of a scar.

Pushing his glasses up and remembering that he had work to do, William tried to get up, just to find his hand being weakly grasped by the redhead's hand in his.

A frown formed on Grell's forehead before slowly opening his eyes, trying to find himself in time and space, blinking a couple of times before trying to move to look around, moaning softly with pain.

“Stay put". William said, for some reason unable to let his hand go. Like if wanting to make sure that the redhead was indeed alive, before letting go of his hand.

Grell stopped moving but didn't give any sign of recognize his voice or give any type of answer, so the reaper supposed that the redhead was still pretty in shock for such wounds.

“Go back to sleep". Will commanded and the injuried reaper blinked a couple of times before murmuring something that he thought was his name. “I'm here" he said simply without even know what else to say that could calm him down and make him go back to sleep.

And after falling back to sleep, William felt the grip on the redhead's hand beginning to soften before letting go. The warm feeling and the softeness of his skin, still lingering in between his fingers.

Finally he could go back to his paperwork. The reaper was asleep and healing at his own rythm and there wasn't anything else he could do, appart of cleaning the wounds and replace the bandages.

 _5:16 am_. Soon he would need to go back to work. Same with the blonde that was still snoring like if nothing happened.

Soon the sun would be out and that ship would sail, leaving the dispatch without any other option but to send him and Knox, to uncover the mystery behind it.

He better started signing the rest of his paperwork.

* * *

Yawning and stretching his sore limbs, Ronald Knox opened his eyes, blinking several times and feeling his chin sticky with dried saliva, opening and closing his mouth up to feel his face muscles again.

“What... time is it?" He asked with a yawn, but nobody responded so he blinked a couple of times more, finally awake and noticing that William was nowhere to be found. “Man... last night. Morning, senpai". He said, scratching the back of his head and looking at the still sleeping Shinigami on bed. “Looking tons better already!"

He couldn't see much but something in the color of his skin told him that his senpai was finally starting to recover.

“Now, where is Will senpai? Did he leave without me!?" The reaper quickly got up, picking up his coat of the floor and walking out of the main room, storming down the stairs to stop at the smell of bacon and eggs emanating from the kitchen.

Peeking from a corner, Ronald noticed the back of Will's head and something that looked like a frying pan and a wooden spoon.

“Morning, Knox". William said without even turn around, serving two plates. “You slept well, I assume".

“And something tells me that you didn't. Morning". The reaper said cautiosly walking inside and finally making eye contact with his supervisor, once William turned around, placing both plates on the kitchen table.

“So much work to do, _yet_ ". The supervisor replied, taking a sip of his cup of tea and serving another for the blonde in front of him. “Also, Sutcliff finally started to heal. He woke up in the middle of the night, but was still too confused to understand his surroundings".

The young reaper smiled softly.

“He would totally have flipped out if knowing that he was sleeping on your bed". William didn't say anything and the awkward silence was almost too much to put up with. “Listen, Will, I'm sorry for my attitude last night. I was so angry, I thought that you didn't care and..."

"No. You're right, I didn't care"... at first" William started and lifted a hand to stop the blonde from replying." I hardly can put up with his flirtatious attitude and lack of ethics, but that isn't a reason to not attend an emergency call and for that I apologize".

“Well, better than nothing". The young reaper said, joining the other reaper at the table.

“For now, we have better things to worry about. The ship it's about to sail and we must discover what the mysterious machine does with all these corpses".

“With all the commotion, I couldn't do any proper research". The boy excused himself and William sighed.

“We will have to find out before the ship sails. Since Sutcliff it's still recovering, will be the two of us this time. But first we will need for Sutcliff to tell us what happened since he's the only witness of this mysterious attacker".

And he feared that the redhead wouldn't wake up in time for it.


	3. Chapter 3

Passing the pages of his book of souls, William T. Spears blinked rapidly at the abnormal number of souls to collect that kept growing and growing each minute or so.

“Impossible! How are we going to collect all these souls, just the two of us!?"

“It has something to do with that ship". Closing the book with one hand and vanishing it with a wave of it, the supervisor frowned, walking next to the injured redhead, leaning down to unbutton the white shirt covering his body, so that he could remove the bandages and look at his exposed skin. Some of the cuts were still bleeding but slowly healing. “I'm wondering if all these deaths will be caused by the same person that did this to Sutcliff".

“But if these injuries are made by a death scythe then... is one of us". The blonde gulped. “Why would any of us do such thing!?"

Slowly tracing one of the longest cuts in the redhead's chest with one of his index fingers, William tried to make a mental list of all the field reapers he knew, discarding name after name, shaking his head.

None of them would do such thing.

_None, except, perhaps, Grell Sutcliff._

“By now the dispatch should have more information about this. I will gather all the possible data while you wait here for Sutcliff to wake up". Looking at his whrist watch, Ronald Knox sighed. “We still have a couple of hours before everything starts".

With a simply nod from his supervisor, the younger reaper of the two jumped from the only window of the room, while his supervisor followed every movement with his eyes till he went out of sight.

He had a hard time believing that any reaper could do such thing. But then, there was Grell Sutcliff, the exception of every possible rule.

Moving away from the window, William walked to the bathroom opening the small mirror cabinet over the sink, looking for another roll of bandages and alcohol.

Closing the cabinet, William looked at his reflex in the mirror, noticing a faint movement inside the bedroom.

Grell Sutcliff was beginning to stir, moaning softly with pain.

“Don't move" William commanded, sitting on the chair that Ronald Knox occupied a few hours ago.

Eyes twitched beneath the lids as green eyes finally met his own and a soft whisper broke the redhead reaper's silence.

“Will..."

Refusing to show any sign of relief in front of the redhead, the supervisor pushed his glasses up and crossed his arms.

_Yes, he was alive and finally well enough to notice his surroundings. But he didn't want to give the redhead the wrong idea._

_The idea that he would be always there to fix each one of his mistakes._

_Even if he always did in one way or another._

William refused to believe that another reaper could be misbehaving like Sutcliff. He needed to hear the story from the redhead itself.

“Don't move, your body it's still recovering". William replied, remembering that he had to replace the bandages, thinking in how uncomfortable it would be with the reaper fully awake and conscious. He wasn't ready for the usual innuendos.

“Will... where am I? What are you...?" The redhead reaper asked, slowly turning his head to look at him, blinking in confusion.

“My home. You were unconscious after getting ambushed by the docks".

“Have I? I can't... remember much".

“Knox called me after I..." William stopped for a moment, thinking in what he was about to say.

“After what?" Grell inquired and his supervisor sighed, shaking his head a couple of times, fixing his glasses.

“After I ignored your calls for help. You were unconscious in his arms, suffering of multiple wounds that seemed to be made by a death scythe"

An uncomfortable silence hovered in the air, as the redhead blinked several times, looking away.

“Yes, definitely sounds like something that you would do". The reaper smiled softly for a moment, but the tone of his voice sounded almost as if he was hurt by that statement.

“I brought you home and took care of your wounds as I supposed that you didn't have the proper healing equipment in your apartment". He said almost too sudden, feeling that uncomfortable knot in the pit of his stomach again.

“Thank you, I guess". The redhead replied still looking away. “Does it make you feel better now?"

_No._

_Actually... no._

_But... why?_

“I should apologize. I had to answer the call, no matter if..."

“No matter if it was me who was calling you?" Grell asked, turning his head again to look at him. “Do you even care, William? Why you decided to _“rescue me"_ this time?" “Was it because Knox begged you to? Was it because you didn't want to have an even more understaffed departmemt in your hands?"

The supervisor sighed, averting his gaze.

“That's what I thought. Now I remember it. I tried to call you so many times but you never answered. I had to call Ronald. I thought that if it was about work you would answer but I was wrong again. Why would you help me anyways? For you I'm better dead".

“How I was supposed to know that you were calling for something else than just an _“I love you, darling!" ._ The reaper said, mimicking his filtrarious tone with a frown, making the redhead blush.

“Thank you". The redhead said again and William stood of the chair, staring down at the exposed body of the redhead, causing the reaper to look down at his own body and blushing even more. “You could have said something!"

“For what?" The reaper replied without looking up.

“Stop staring!"

“Trust me, I'm not enjoying this".

“You... idiot!" Grell replied with a pout, looking away unable to stop himself from blushing even more. Closing his eyes at the feeling of the fingers of the other reaper in his skin.

_“C'mon, Grell, think in something else"._

“By any chance do you caught any glimpse of the person, demon or... reaper who attacked you?"

Opening his eyes again, the redhead frowned for a moment, trying to focus on the fuzzy memories of that night.

“No. I'm afraid that I couldn't see much but feel the cold touch of a sharp blade cutting my skin into pieces". Grell ended the sentence with another pout. “How he or she dare to do such thing to my perfect skin!?"

William sighed then shook his head a couple of times before pushing his glasses up and adding:

“Stop moving, I want to make sure that your ribs healed properly. At least two of them were broken".

“They feel fine" The redhead quickly replied. Anything to stop William from staring into every inch of his naked body.

“Even if they're, you will stay in bed for the rest of the week. The forensic team decided that it will the best for you".

“I can't stay in this bed for the rest of the week, William!" The redhead pouted again. “Don't get me wrong, I adore the thought of sleeping in your bed" Grell blushed and William simply shook his head, fixing his glasses. “But I can't let this person, demon, Shinigami, whatever, get away without a proper punishment for cutting my skin!"

“There's almost no mark left" William stated, starting to take the bloodied bandages off, placing one hand on the redhead's chest to keep him in place. “Revenge isn't..."

“I don't care if you think that it's a stupid idea! Now this is personal and I will reap his or her shit ass no matter what".

“Manners, please". William said almost in a whisper and Grell simply rolled his eyes.

“You can't ask me that when you're staring at a lady's naked body without her permission".

“You are not a lady so I don't see a problem. A lady wouldn't say such things you said".

“Asshole".

“Case in point".

Grell sighed in frustration, rolling his eyes and deciding that he would play the nice obedient Shinigami just for once and as soon as William left to uncover the big secret behind The Campania, he would sneak out and get the fight he deserved after everything he went through.


End file.
